


Happily Almost After

by aryasnark



Category: Cinderella (2015)
Genre: F/M, I'm Sorry, This is really sad, this made me so sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-27
Updated: 2015-03-27
Packaged: 2018-03-19 23:05:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3627657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aryasnark/pseuds/aryasnark
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>By all intents and purposes, Kit had done his duty. He had married the Princess Chelina after the mystery princess of his dreams could never be found. And he had tried, so very hard, to grow to love the woman. But he found it was more difficult than he had anticipated. </p>
<p>(request fic)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Happily Almost After

By all intents and purposes, Kit had done his duty. He had married the Princess Chelina after the mystery princess of his dreams could never be found. And he had tried, so very hard, to grow to love the woman. But he found it was more difficult than he had anticipated. 

Chelina and Kit had nothing in common. She enjoyed parties and gossip, and was in every way a very passionate, ambitious woman. Kit, on the other hand, preferred time alone. He liked spending time in his mother's garden. He liked going riding with no one but his friend, the Captain, to accompany him. 

Their lack of chemistry was not for the lack of trying. Chelina had tried to come with Kit to his mother's garden, but he could not bear to let her step inside, which had resulted in her getting offended and walking off. And who could blame her? Kit had also tried spending time with some of Chelina's friends, trying to understand the sort of world his wife came from. But he could not. He did not agree with their ideals or morals, and he did not find a single subject in common with all the people Chelina had brought with her, be they men, women, royals or servants. 

Kit had told himself that he would stop thinking about the mystery princess. She was never coming back, and he knew as much. After a long, fruitless search, the Grand Duke and the Captain had come home empty-handed. And Kit had given the Grand Duke his word. He had married the Princess Chelina of Zaragosa.

The ceremony had been small and utterly without any hint of happiness. Kit could recognize that he was not the only one agreeing to the marriage for duty. Chelina seemed like she didn't even like Kit. Every so often she used her witty remarks in order to try to make him appear less intelligent, or foolish for believing in the universal peace and whatever else she called "nonsense." 

To be fair, it wasn't like Kit was overly kind to her, either. He was polite, like he always was, but he had a coldness to him he knew Chelina had noticed. They were both miserable, but they were doing this because they knew they had to. And because Kit couldn't find the love of his life. And this was exactly the thing that would always make it impossible for Chelina to love Kit. Because she knew that if he had the choice, he would never have picked her. 

More often than he cared to admit, Kit found his thoughts travelling back to the mysterious princess. Where she was, what she was doing, whether she was thinking of him. He thought of the Grand Duke's words, telling him that perhaps the girl did not feel the same about him as he did about her. The Captain had disagreed strongly with this statement, but perhaps....

Or maybe something had happened to her. Maybe she was hurt. Or worse... Kit could not bring himself to even think of such alternative. Her rejection was not the worst part. Not knowing whether she was safe, that was.

"Your Grace", Kit turned his head towards the voice. It was the Captain. Kit realized he was sitting at the breakfast table, clutching onto his fork, completely lost in his own thoughts.

"What is it, Captain?"

"There is a woman here to see you", the Captain said, looking a bit startled. "She says she knows where your mystery princess is."

Kit froze. What? After all this time?

It had been three years since Kit had walked down the aisle with Princess Chelina, swearing to love her when they both knew his heart was taken by another. Could she possibly have returned now? 

He stood up, feeling like he was in a dream as he followed the Captain out of the room. The man led him into the drawing room in the quiet parts of the castle, and there she was. Kit recognized the girl vaguely from the night of the ball. But she could not remember her name, or her status. Did it matter, though? Did anything matter anymore?

"Your Highness", the girl said, bowing down slightly before standing back up. She seemed nervous. Her curly, brown hair was falling down her neck, and she was breathing heavily. She was very nervous.

"My lady", Kit said, trying to remain calm. "You said you have some information on the woman I seek?"

"I do", the woman whispered. "My name is Anastasia. And the girl you seek is called Ella", she said, clutching onto her hands as she breathed. Who was she afraid of? "She is my stepsister. And she's been locked in the attic of my mother's home for three years."

Kit froze. What? "Come again?" he asked with a shaky voice. "She's been... locked up?"

Anastasia nodded quickly. "I had nothing to do with it, I swear-"

"I do not care if you had anything to do with it", Kit snapped angrily. "Where is she? Where can I find her?"

"I'll take you to her", Anastasia nodded, now even more scared. Kit tried to calm himself. At least the girl had come forward. But so late. So, very much too late.

All the way to the house Anastasia told Kit and the Captain everything that had happened. About Lady Tremaine's bargain with the Grand Duke. About Lady Tremaine locking Ella up. And about how, after the husband the Grand Duke had set Anastasia up with had turned out to be a violent man, she had run away, back home, finally willing to do the right thing.

"I'm so sorry, Your Highness", Anastasia spoke, and for the first time in her life she meant it. But Kit didn't care. All he cared about at that moment was seeing Ella. "Has she been kept.... well?"

"My mother does feed her", Anastasia said. "She forces her to do all the house work, still."

"Once we get back to the castle, we'll have to deal with the Grand Duke", the Captain spoke. The three of them were sitting in the carriage leading them to the house as fast as possible.

"Agreed", Kit said, his voice thick with anger. "I'll deal with him myself."

Once they arrived at the house, everything happened like almost in a dream. The Captain burst in first, shocking Lady Tremaine, who had been in the middle of sipping her afternoon tea. First, she saw Anastasia, and then realization hit her.

"You stupid, foolish girl!" she shouted in anger, attempting to reach for her daughter when the Captain grabbed onto her arm. 

"You are not going to do anything other than stand there and wait", the Captain growled angrily. "Where is the girl?"

"What girl?"

"Where is Ella?!" Kit snapped, walking over to Lady Tremaine, when he heard the footsteps. 

All four of them turned their eyes to the doorway, and there she was.

She looked just as beautiful to Kit as she had the first day they had met. She looked a bit skinnier, and the smile was gone from her face, but her kindness, her goodness was still apparent. And the look on her face when she saw Kit, the pure love and relief, broke his heart. She could never be his. And he could never be hers. How was this fair?

"Mister Kit", she whispered, so very softly. And it was enough to make Kit rush over to her and pull her into his arms, hugging her tightly.

"I found you", he whispered, closing his eyes as he held her close, forgetting everything else. He felt Ella hug her back, clutching onto him as if he was the only thing left in the world. 

When Ella and Kit did not see it fit to move for quite a while, the Captain and Anastasia shared a look. "Perhaps we should go back to the castle with my mother", Anastasia said quietly.

"I think that's a good idea", the Captain nodded. "Your Highness?"

"I'll come later", Kit said, not taking his eyes off Ella as he cupped her face in his hands, smiling softly. Neither of them spoke until the others had left the house.

"I was too late", Kit whispered. "I should have found you earlier. I should have saved you."

Ella smiled, shaking her head."It's not your fault. I didn't give you anything to go by. I never dared to dream that you and I could...", she paused when she saw the sad look on Kit's face. "Of course", she whispered, trying very hard not to show the sorrow in her voice. "Are you... are you happy?"

Kit smiled sadly, admiring the beautiful girl's kindness, even at a time like this. "No."

Ella breathed out, sighing. "That's a shame. Kit, if... if this is not right, I don't want to ruin anything for you."

"You are the first light I've had in my life for three years, Ella", Kit pressed on, holding onto her shoulders. "I am not letting you go again."

Ella smiled sadly. "But you have to, don't you?"

He did have to. He had made a promise. A vow, even. Breaking that promise now would lead to war between the two kingdoms. And Kit knew that he had to protect the people. But Ella...

"I'm not leaving you", he whispered, as if saying it again would make any sort of a difference.

"I'm not giving you a choice", Ella said as she moved to take his hand in hers and kiss it softly. "You already saved me, Kit. But you and I both know what has to be done."

"Just because it's what's done doesn't mean it's what should be done", Kit smiled through his tears. His smile widened when he heard Ella laugh softly. Such a beautiful sound. Such a beautiful soul. One that he could never have.

"Indeed", she whispered. "I knew a man once who said he believed in that."

"Really?" Kit smiled, trying very hard not to cry but he could not help it. He was losing the one last drop of sanity he had left. "And what happened to him?"

"What happened?" Ella asked with a smile, close to tears herself. "He lived happily ever after. Just like he deserved to."

Kit made sure that the Grand Duke and Lady Tremaine were punished. They were both banished from the kingdom forever, and Drizella and her husband were robbed of their titles. But Anastasia, she got to stay in the village, but she had to start over as nothing but a commoner. It turned out that the years had made her softer, and the transition had not been so difficult after all.

Kit never told Princess Chelina about Ella. There was no point. And Ella knew that she could never see him again. Because if she did, she knew she could never let Kit go again. She had to do what was right. She had to be brave. So she let him go. She restored her parents' home, hired back the staff and lived her life, trying very hard to pretend that she was not in love with the man who lived in the castle right by her home. 

And Kit did the same. It had been the hardest thing in his entire life, to let Ella go. And he never did, not really. Every month he made sure to ride past Ella's home. He would watch her, watching as she collected eggs, tended to the sheep or chatted with the staff. He didn't mean any harm. He only wanted to make sure she was happy. 

Neither of them loved again like they had loved each other. No one they met could ever light that spark in them the way they had lit it in each other such a long time ago. However, the memory of the love they had shared, all the memories they had, was what kept them going, even through the hardest of times.

**Author's Note:**

> Writing this made me so very sad!! :( Now, I thought long and hard about this ending, but I felt this would be most loyal to Kit and Ella's personalities. And the reason I chose Anastasia and not Drizella is (other than my liking for Holliday Grainger) because of how Anastasia has always been displayed in the cartoons. It just felt more natural.


End file.
